About the PCA

To read more about our denomination visit http://www.pcanet.org/.

PCA & Ames Community Church...

What's your idea of a Presbyterian? A theological liberal? A really religious guy that wears a robe and a collar. A stoic and formal Christianity? The frozen chosen? Maybe you don't have any preconceived ideas about Presbyterians. In the PCA you will find grace, liberty and the uncompromising truth of the Bible! Ames Community Church (PCA) is a biblically conservative, nontraditional - non liturgical kind of Presbyterian church. Conservative doctrinally and non-traditional in worship? Why that's counter intuitive! That's what is great about the PCA.

Church Leadership

Jesus is our Senior Pastor. He is our Chief Shepherd. Jesus is our Leader, our Lord. At Ames Community Church (PCA) I, Jeff, at this point, am the lead planter. I will not take the title of Senior Pastor. That is reserved for Jesus. You can simply call me Jeff, or pastor, or brother. When the church becomes particularized I will lead the church with other men in leadership.

In our denomination the local church is autonomous with Jesus as our Lord. Folks are led by a pastor whose call is confirmed. They are also led by spiritual elders who have also been called and qualified for this specific kind service. Although autonomous, the doctrine, and integrity of the leaders are under the spiritual oversight of like minded Christian men from other surrounding churches that are geographically near by. This is called our presbytery. The PCA does not have a pope or bishops. In Iowa for example, we have eight PCA churches with three new church plants. The elders and pastor of each individual church are spiritually accountable to the other elders in our presbytery. Every spiritual overseer in the Iowa presbytery would agree with Ames Community Church statement of beliefs and we would agree with theirs. What incredible unity! Our churches work from the bottom up not from the top down. There is a double layer of accountability. This works to ensure that godly men are biblical leaders and are personally accountable to other godly leaders.

During this season of gathering folks to launch this new church start, the elders at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Des Moines are the spiritual overseers for Ames Community Church.

Notable PCA Leaders

Here are some recognizable names you may have heard of who are PCA folks:

• R.C. Sproul
• Joni Erikson Tada
• Francis Schaffer
• D. James Kennedy
• James M. Boice
• Steve Brown
• Stephen Curtis Chapman
• Tim Keller
• Ken Sande
• Steve Green
• C. Everett Koop
• Brian Chapell
• John Frame
• OP Robertson
• Michael W. Smith
• Amy Grant